By David Futrelle
So the Daily Mail is reporting that two former Infowars employees have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing head Infowarrior Alex Jones and other staffers of harassment and discrimination, describing a workplace lousy with racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual harassment and way more shirtless Alex Jones than anyone should ever be subjected to.
Documents filed by ex-Infowarrior Rob Jacobson suggest that working for Jones as a Jewish person was, well, a lot like one might imagine it would be to work for Jones as a Jewish person.
According to the Daily Mail,
the controversial Infowars owner joked with staff who called … Jacobson ‘The Jewish Individual’, ‘The Resident Jew’ and shouted ‘Yacobson’ across the office, it’s claimed.
Jones allegedly continually bullied, ridiculed and humiliated Jacobson – who worked for Jones’ company Infowars for 13 years – before firing him last May.
Apparently working for Jones as a black woman isn’t much of a treat either.
Ex-Infowars production assistant Ashley Beckford says “the discrimination began almost immediately” after she started work there in 2016, the Daily Mail reports.
According to an EEOC complaint she too has filed: ‘I was subjected to different terms and conditions of employment, in comparison to my non-Black African-American peers, when it came to my salary/wages and benefits (travel), and in regards to my dress, including my hair style.
‘I also was subjected to harassment and racial slurs by Respondent’s management and some peer colleagues, as well as subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile, sexually offensive work environment.’
In a series of allegations, Beckford, who is African American, says she was ‘mocked’ for her skin tone, called a ‘coon’ by a senior manager, and denied promotions to match the salary of other coworkers, according to the complaint documents.
She also accuses Jones and several other supervisors and colleagues of ‘commonly leering at women in the office’, and making ‘sexual gestures and advances’. …
Beckford claimed that Jones groped her behind with his hand and commented to others, ‘Who wouldn’t want to have a black wife?’ …
She claims he made ‘sexual advances’ towards her and made comments about her having a ‘good body that looked like I worked out a lot’ …
She added: ‘Alex often spent his time shirtless, and endlessly leering, with or without a shirt, at female guests and employees while creating a disgusting, hostile environment.’
Apparently, the Infowars offices are also full of dudes who love guns (and Donald Trump) a little too much.
Beckford … claims she was intimidated by the constant display of guns in the infowars’ office in Austin, Texas, which created an ‘extremely hostile work environment’ and alleges she was reprimanded if she ever questioned the actions of President Donald Trump.
For more of the sordid details, check out the documents posted by the Daily Mail.
Alex Jones, for his part, says it’s lies, all lies. “I mean nobody accuses me of stuff like that,” he told the Daily Mail. “No, no and in fact I’m not the type of person to say those kinds of things. So that’s why my feelings are hurt. Wow. That’s all I can say.”
Jones’ dad, who runs the Human Resources department at Infowars (!), wasn’t quite as definite in his denials, admitting to the Daily Mail that at least one of Jacobson’s accusations might sorta be true, maybe. “That might have been a case of 30 seconds of somebody giving him some crap, I can see that, it’s like a damn locker room,” he told the Daily Mail, choosing his words very uncarefully.
Presumably since this interview Alex has confiscated his dad’s phone.
Which was planned. The copilot was brainwashed to rig the air system with an aereosol borne paralytic agent based on spider venom on timed release, then not show up for the actual flight so that Kennedy would be alone at the controls with no one to act when he was paralysed.
Simple.
*Slams head repeatedly against the wall*
Yeah, I’m not sure if they just made up a person out of whole cloth or if they gave the name of the flight instructor and made it sound like he was on board and died. It’s been a while since I saw the DVD.
Maybe there were snakes?
I’m not trying to dogpile but having stayed with an abusive partner for over a decade and an abusive employer for over a decade (thankfully no intentional sexual harassment), I want to say that it’s not easy to get out of an abusive situation. It’s damn near impossible, really, with all the psychological tricks that abusers employ. I’m feeling pretty sick right now after reading some of this and I couldn’t get through all the comments so apologies if this already came up.
Since not everybody can see David’s Twitter sidebar, I’ll drop this right in the comments
https://twitter.com/RobertMaguire_/status/969286630833098752
This is the most hilarious case of old white people trying and failing to rap since the early 90’s when all the adults were trying to rap to reach the kids these days.
Well those CIA peeps are very clever; “intelligence’ is in the job title after all. So it’s understandable they covered their tracks. Just not well enough for an intrepid reporter like Mr Jones. Woodward and Bernstein got nothing on him.
I felt like something had really changed, around fifteen years ago, when I saw a Rice Krispies commercial feature rapping that sounded as though it had been written by people with an actual passing acquaintance with hip-hop, rather than ones who thought it meant reciting quatrains with an ABAB structure over a backbeat…..
@Kupo
I’m sorry you had to go through that. And you are so right. Even before getting out of an abusive situation, one has to recognize that it is abusive and then also recognize that one is being abused. It took me time and counseling to see the situation for what it was, and more time and counseling to admit even to myself that I was being abused. When it’s not physical abuse that leaves evidence, it can be easier to deny it’s happening and stay in the situation way too long. I don’t know Jacobson’s story, but I wish him strength through this process. It ain’t easy trying to hold an abuser to accounts.
@kupo and @laserqueen, I’m sorry and angry for you. I think even when you know, in practice it’s very very hard to change the dynamic let alone get out. No matter what you say, there’s always an answer that “proves” it’s actually all your fault plus you get endless anger directed at you which makes you feel you’d better just try to keep your head down (and then a lot of the time you still get berated for your silence anyway, so it’s not like that helps).
Come to think of it I’m sorry and angry for too many people.
I have read the posts but I still truly struggle with the concept that he chose to work their for 13 years. Supporting Infowars and taking that abuse. Media jobs may be hard to come by but my self respect and self-esteem could not take racist abuse for 13 months, let alone years!
I’ve quite jobs for substantially less.
@Stephanie, emotionally abusive relationships almost always involves deep feelings of guilt which make it really, really hard to leave. That’s the same here. It can be hard to understand, certainly, but it’s very much a real thing!
I thought these comments about Jacobson are little bit victim blaming too. people work for many reasons, we don’t know him, we don’t know his reasons or story or life. enough people said about abusive relationships and work already, so it is clear now, for everyone, I hope.
Must be nice to have the kind of privilege to be able to just walk out of a job.
@Scildfreja
There is emotional investment with a relationship though. This was a job?
@kupo
With no savings and no job to go to in the middle of the GFC it sure as hell didn’t feel like privilege.
But my mental health required it.
It’s also not merely that he took the abuse but in being an employee he enabled their work. It would be like me taking a job at The National Review, or providing online tech support for the ROK web page.
@Stephanie Tohill
There are emotional investments with jobs, too. I explained up thread that I was at an abusive employer for over a decade. Maybe you didn’t see it? I’m sure you’re not flat out dismissing the experiences of an abuse victim.
And yeah, being able to leave a job is privilege, even when it causes you hardship.
@Diego: I know we’ve moved on in main site topics but… how is the Roswell conspiracy white supremacist in nature? (The “ancient astronaut” stuff, yes, but…)
@Stephanie
Oof! Not a good look there…
I’ve been at my job about 14mo now. It’s caused me no shortage of depressive episodes. I’ve no intention of quitting
Isn’t, like, the entire point of privilege that it doesn’t feel like it to someone who has it?
And in the not unlikely nor uncommon scenario in which his mental health required he keep his job?
Really not getting how either Roswell or ancient astronaut theories are ‘white supremacist.’ They aren’t.
And you know there is nothing wrong with struggling to understand something having lacked any experience.
Oof, indeed. That last bit is definitely victim blaming.
I say this with no sarcasm what so ever-I’m very glad that you were able to walk away.
But having Kupo tell you it isn’t that simple and you digging in, doesn’t help the conversation. I myself am just now leaving an abusing relationship after 27 years. It’s a little more complicated than that. Job or relationship it can do a whammy on you, so if you could be a little kinder, that would be helpful. Sure, InfoWars is a hot mess but abuse is abuse and no one deserves that.
I just came home from a therapy session after discussing pretty much the same thing, and this is a little too much for me tonight.
Hugs, Myriad. ?
Thanks, Kupo. Hugs back at cha.
Re Alex Jones’s constant shirtlessness on the so-called job, I have a theory (my conspiracy, allegedly): It’s all those “supplements” he peddles, those brainfight virility boosters with extra lead paint chips in every capsule. They cause him to Hulk out at unpredictable intervals, on or off the air, so the minions have taken to hiding his shirts in order to save him the embarrassment (and money) of having to go out and buy new ones every time that happens.
Either that, or he fancies himself some kind of ladies’ man.
Also, has anyone seen the so-called Before and After shots of himself that he uses to hawk that shit? The only difference that I can see between them is that in the Before photo, his skin’s a more or less normal shade of white-guy-with-a-slight-tan, while in the After, he’s as red as a boiled lobster.
And of course, he’s shirtless and sucking in his gut with a constipated look on his face.
(As to why his employees stuck it out in there for as long as they did with all that abuse, I second the “media jobs are hard to come by” explanation. Or in this case, media-adjacent jobs, since Alex Jones can’t do hard news for shit. Also, it beats what one makes flipping burgers, where there’s probably ALSO no shortage of racist or antisemitic abuse to be faced on the job.)
PS: Hugs to Kupo, Myriad, and anyone else who’s had to live with abusive relationships, whether at work or home. That shit’s not to be blamed on any victim, EVER.
@Stephanie Tohill,
Another reason for why someone might stay 13 years in a job they don’t like is money. As in, they have big bills to pay off, and thus don’t have enough financial savings to live off of while unemployed.
And unemployment insurance is not a guarantee in many states if you leave your job. The rules vary from state to state, but some states do have a rule that if you quit your job, that disqualifies you from getting unemployment. So big bills to pay + no real savings (because of said bills) + possibly months and months of waiting before some employer somewhere decides to even interview you + how many interviews you have to go through before someone hires you = putting up with shitty working conditions in order to survive. And that’s not even getting into needing GOOD references from your old job to put on your resume, and all that jazz…..
@nparker,
I don’t know about Roswell, but the racist implications of the ancient astronauts is the idea that there’s no way that the brown natives of Egypt and South America could’ve come up with the engineering ideas to move those huuuuuuge stone blocks on their own. That they’re too stupid to figure out on their own how, say, a lever works to lift a rock heavier than themselves, and adjust/apply that to stones weighing several tons and move them where they want them. That only Europeans were smart enough to figure those things out without aliens helping them along the way.
(Keep in mind that the reason that so many 19th century archeologists thought that things like telekinesis was used to build the Pyramids was because they never thought to ask any engineers – or even the local construction crews – how they might go about moving huge stones with minimal effort. They might have learned something interesting if they did so.)